Durarara!! – 19
Tension mounts between the ‘Bukro gangs but is Izaya the real Puppetmaster?
This was another informative episode providing details about how the gang war is playing out in the playfield of Ikebukro. All the pawns are aligned (Yellow Scarves, Dollars and Slashers) and it all starts from where we left off last time, Anri running away from Yellow Scarves’ hideout after discovering the identity of their Shogun. The discovery completely overwhelms her, while cramped in space hiding away from the Yellow Scarves.
The narrator this time is Kinnosuke, it’s strange in a way because we haven’t really seen him much after that encounter with Celty except for few glimpses. I’m very curious about him. He takes us back to how Anni ended up following on Yellow Scarves.
Mikado comes to pick her up when she gets discharged from hospital. Masaomi joins them too, cracking jokes at how Mikado had been looking forward to seeing her in school the whole day. Though, he becomes his broody self soon after, staring at Saki’s window. Anri picks up on that and observes that he has not been himself lately. She also remembered how upset he became seeing her bruised after the Saika attack.
As in last episode, Masaomi runs off for an ‘errand’ after receiving a phone call, pristinely asking Prince Mikado to escort Princess Anri home. He was trying to stop some rouge Yellow Scarves members beating up Dollars but as he reached the situation, Police had already arrived and Simon had meddled to save the kids.
Kowai ne~ Simon-san yo~
On the chat board, Mikado comments that Yellow Scarves are now seen everywhere. Izaya inflames that they have become more overwhelming than Dollars, while Celty adds they don’t seem like themselves before and have become more violent. Saika (Anri), joins the conversation timidly and apologizes for her previous behavior.
Izaya knowing full well Anri’s identity soothes her that it was all due to a virus that she did all that and she’s all better now. He turns the conversation towards the Yellow Scarves and Dollars getting into a dangerous situation. Celty tries to divert the conversation but Izaya ploughs on saying that anyone living in ‘Bukro should know how things are. He blatantly talks about the Slasher attacks and how both the gangs got injured in the process, while Anri’s quite aghast at the revelation.
Mikado chimes in to say that Dollars didn’t think that Yellow Scarves were the culprits. Both the sides don’t know much about each other and that’s causing the confusion. Izaya however concurs that both the gangs have to soon lynch the person responsible, if not it’ll lead to a big scary gang war (oh, the dorama he cooks up! <.<)
Celty private messages Anri and tries to soothe her that she was not the cause behind the gang scuffle and there would be no point in getting herself involved in all it. Anri leaves the chat, apologizing and thanking them all, Celty follows suit.
Aww, Celty’s so cute when she’s scared: “Traffic police is very, very scary!” <3
Celty, the techy mentor of Anri, who would teach her to PM
Mikado PMs Izaya about finding out the identity of the Slasher. He doesn’t want any unrest in the city but Izaya assures that there are always elements in a gang that cause members to manipulate them, like roughing up anyone they liked, mugging, bullying, etc. Mikado’s quite adamant in not letting things get out of control; Izaya would love to see what ensues.
Izzy should have a fang (not moe one like Tora but a big incisor) would suite him, being evil and all that!
Like Mikado, Anri reasons that she should do something about the growing unrest. Masaomi thinks the same thing but he’s much more burdened and being controlled by his past, more than any of the trio. They meet up the next day (same scene shown in last episode) and as predicted, Anri was indeed concerned enough to go after Masaomi, leaving a clueless Mikado behind.
I’m sad to see S <3 M strap gone. ‘Course the mobile is changed too.
Anri sends out a feeler to her children—Saika gives her powers to connect to all her children like a WiMax connection, working anywhere and everywhere with unlimited coverage. Her discussion with Yellow Scarves is brief. They tell her that their leader is indeed Kida Masaomi, her friend and he has vowed to take revenge for her.
<.< Dear mother, we haven’t been naughty. Thank you! >.>
The obedient children take her to their hideout and she sees everything with her own eyes and thus bringing us back a full circle to the cramped space she’s hiding in. She doesn’t want to hurt them or show herself to Masaomi as a monster, even when Saika tells her to cut them, and she would love them in her place. Before Masaomi can get to the space where she is, Celty arrives as reinforcement. She rescues Anri and gives her the usual accompanying helmet that keeps her identity safe.
Masaomi is quite curious about the Headless Rider and the one accompanying her but Celty clearly understands that Anri doesn’t want him to see her. She turns on her shadow form of overwhelming and her bike turns into the true headless horse.
They were pretty successful in getting away but a thrown pipe let’s Anri reveal Saika with which she cuts it in half. The following scene unfolds very epicly:
The two most powerful women of Drrr! Bow down bitches!
Little puzzle pieces come together and all the present Yellow Scarves members come to the same conclusion: Slasher was part of Dollars because s/he was rescued by the Headless Rider (already known as an active Dollars member). Thus, it was very easy to conclude that they have to wage a war against Dollars for revenge.
After their departure, Masaomi shows his knowledge about Dullahan and thinks about his friends (Mikado, Anri and Saki). The sky has fallen and it was not blue yet the Yellow Scarves have to rise up (A reference phrase from Romance of Three Kingdoms. Check out the Yellow Turbans Rebellion).
When the rebellion was proclaimed, the sixteen-word slogan was created by Zhang Jiao: 蒼天已死，黃天當立。歲在甲子，天下大吉。 (“The Blue Sky (i.e. the Han Dynasty) has perished, the Yellow Sky (i.e. the rebellion) will soon rise; in this year of Jia Zi, let there be prosperity in the world!”)
Mikado on the other hand has overheard people talking about Dollars member getting mugged by Yellow Scarves. On another chat session, Izaya tells him about the Yellow Scarves and Blue Squares gang war three years back. Many members of Blue Squares joined Yellow Scarves as both gangs became leaderless (Izumi got arrested while Masaomi left), and now their Shogun doesn’t know that people responsible for his girlfriend’s kidnapping were part of his own gang (Harada is an example as noticed in last episode review). He should be careful because there are people who are part of Yellow Scarves and Dollars both. Mikado listens to all this with growing concern that without his knowing even the Slasher could be a part of Dollars.
The next day, Anri’s quite down when Mikado encounters her in school. They are told by Takiguchi that Masaomi would not be showing up, who in turn visits Saki. She compels him to stand tall and fight, while he simply states, “If I could fight and be rid of my past with you, I’d love to. But, I can’t fight you.”
He finally comes to a conclusion that he had always wanted a place to be. In Yellow Scarves that place was Saki (reference to his past) and currently it was his friends due to whom he has rejoined the group and is ready to make a stand. He approaches Kadota for a man-to-man talk and it seems he already knows what’s on Masaomi’s mind.
End Thoughts: Finally not a cliffhanger ending, with only few episodes to go, all corners of plot are being filled to justify the incoming war.
After watching this episode, I’m on the fence over the argument about Izaya being the Puppetmaster. Yeah, he’s evil; he’s highly intelligent, manipulative and resourceful. Just take the chat with Mikado for instance; he’s actually listening to a person who has been the main cause of pain for Masaomi—meeting with Saki, she in turn influenced the Yellow Scarves to strategically hit on Blue Squares and finally her abused injury disbanding the gangs for some time. He gets inside people’s skins, inducing to act exactly as he would like them to. He’s an informant by profession but doesn’t everything boil down to that? He picks and chooses where to let slip what but he never joins the fray himself. He’s a sadistic voyeur, watching a circus unfold, raptly attentive.
Everything is pointing towards him but is it really that simple? He, the final boss that the trio has to destroy in order to save the day? I don’t think so. Getting to know how Narita twists words and characters, in the end Izaya could simply prance up as the savior, making everyone realize whatever they are doing is wrong and it was just a simple misunderstanding! Of course, that is how he ideally would want people to think but things never turn out the way one wants to, right? The reference of the Yellow Scarves Rebellion got me thinking that this story has always been about the ‘people’, how they react and take up chances and decisions as per their personal choices. If you remove Izaya from the equation, do you think Ikebukro would have been a safe place? The answer is a negative. People like Shingen and Yagiri were already there, who manipulated Celty and used her for experimentation. What about the underworld? And colour gangs? All would still be there even if Izaya never existed. Of course, things might not have gotten way out of hand and twisted like they are but a big showdown was imminent nonetheless. The three main protagonists are best friends yet they don’t talk about their secrets to each other just because they are afraid of the reaction but of course, if all of them were honest ‘Bukro would not have been the ’Bukro portrayed in Drrr!!
So, think what you may, everybody loves to hate Izaya; I do too. Yet, I can’t really call him THE Puppetmaster. The real twist and turns are caused by the people of this series, the amalgamation of different characters and their traits.
Coming back to the trio, I don’t like the level of trust between Mikado and Izaya, he better learns fast. Masaomi is simply too burdened by his past and next episode would show if he can actually get out of that vicious circle (maybe he has a plan that he wants to implement with the Dotachin gang?). Anri is only missing one piece of the puzzle, the leader of Dollars. As she has her children in both gangs (whatever you say, this line of plot is simply disturbing. She’s 15 and is a mother of hundreds. Some cool power! <.<), she can be the mediator to quell the warring intentions of both sides but I can guess it won’t be that simple.
I liked how Simon came to save the Dollars kids; he can look pretty threatening however he preaches that he hates fighting. Character like him and Kinnosuke are still a mystery waiting to be revealed.
Missed Shizu-chan and more of Dotachin gang but the next episode looks very promising with Masaomi’s tête-à-tête with Kadota at Simon’s sushi joint. Kadota’s hat is off and Yamasaki’s eyes are open! Something definitely is cooking! Also, the chatting is on between Celty, Anri, Mikado and Izaya, while Masaomi seems to announce something big to his gang.
Countdown: Only 5 more episodes to go! Till next time, Ja ne~
About Kyokai
The Boss lady of Metanorn, who makes it all happen. An animanga enthusiast, who watches/reads almost anything that strikes her fancy. Just beware of her Death Perception and always keep her happy. Regularly found at @KyokaiTM & #[email protected].
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 58 comments
I love how all the peices are slowly coming together! Each episode is getting me more and more pumped up about whats coming next XD
Something tells me though that its the final battle isn’t going to end with Izaya being the savior but rather coming out as some sorta evil bystandard (if that makes sense)… I’m imagining a parallel to what happened with shizuo, a giant reveal and then izaya disappears >_>
The whole 5 episode thing is depressing T_T im hoping they’ll put in another season or OAV later >_<
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Oh definitely, I agree! The momentum is picking up and facts are crammed in together every passing episode.
I didn’t mean to portray Izaya as the savior, rather that was done with a kidding tone of showing his sadistic ways. Definitely, he’s a voyeur to the R!
I would so love season two and the novels do have that much material which would be totally stupid to pass up. Hopefully, we would hear some good news soon! ^^;
POWUH: 600-699 and Romance Expert with 652 comments
anri has the most control over her members so she could fight with the full force of the slashers
next would be mikado,why? check this line from time line of durarara :”Kadota and some thirty Dollars members pretending to be Yellow Turbans engage other Yellow Turbans in battle and defeat them” show that they are more loyal to mikado
and finally masaomi, though he does have fearsome abilities, his members also contain several members of his former enemy gang blue squares so they arent really that loyal in him and he didnt invite them.
so all in all anri has possibly the biggest chance to win but mikado also has 4 strong members in his:shizuo, celty, kadota and simon, and masoami has really low chance in winning this though…
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
but then Shizu-chan also later quits Dollars and just stays away from the whole fight, focusing on Izaya instead.
Not that it makes a difference, just thought I’d point that out~
:glasses
POWUH: 600-699 and Romance Expert with 652 comments
that happens MUCH later in the novels…. and your spoiling the other guys…
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Amado, totally agree with you. Anri has the power to see through all of the scheming and dorama! Hopefully Mikado does too. Team Dollars seems pretty hot and heavy right now because of Celty, Shizu-chan and Dotachin gang.
Now, just looking forward to how things would climax and I expect something big like WHAT?!
POWUH: 600-699 and Romance Expert with 652 comments
maybe I should stop adding links to my comments since they always disappear…
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Oh noes! I bring them back so no worries there! ^^;
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 42 comments
whaaaaat?! only 5 episodes left?! noooooooo~~~ just when shizu-chan’s missing in this episode~~~ er, blabbing nonsense things…
anyway, if Izaya isn’t the “final boss” or rather, there’s no “final boss”, how can this anime end? i mean, the typical scenario would be they defeat the “final boss” and live happily ever after. but then again, this ain’t a typical anime to begin with so~~~ i think we should just wait with what Narita-san’s stirring up for us. i hope he won’t disappoint me/us. 😉
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
I get the same reaction whenever counting down. It’s just four more episodes now as I sit here to review the 20th.
Ah well, coming back to what is exactly going to happen, I would leave it up to Narita and go whaaaa~ (:wah) later. Hopefully, we won’t be disappointed! ^^;
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 107 comments
Hmm… I would think that Izaya would still be evil and a ‘boss’. But something that would be even more evil would appear, and show that Izaya was actually used too. Like, SHingen and and his father. That would be a possible twist in the story. 😀
Perhaps that Izaya would then become a good perosn, and they would work together to ‘kill’ the ‘final boss’. 😀
POWUH: 600-699 and Romance Expert with 652 comments
work together to beat the ‘final boss’?
no idea who and if there is a ‘final boss’ but I do know someone blindsided izaya and left him bleeding in the street at the end of vol.6
the anime will miss a great part if they dont make a 2nd season since vol.1-3 is just the beginning of their adventure.
ill spoil you guys a bit:yakuza, mafia, motor gangs, serial killers and a “revived” gang will show up after this vol.
POWUH: 600-699 and Romance Expert with 652 comments
whoops edit the last part on the 1st paragraph:
“at the end of vol.6” not vol.3
how could I miss that :dot
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
@ Starry, There was a time when I thought, who could be more evil than Izaya? Why, Shingen! But, it’s still dubious how he would show up in the whole fray. He’s definitely after Celty’s body now! :dot
But I can never imagine Izaya as a good person, like maybe in our dreams where he’s all good? fufuu~ ^^; With this series, I’m not even sure about who the final boss is. So, we’ll just have to wait and see.
@ amado, Aaaaaaah! I want a season 2 NAO! Btw, I think the studio would go for it because Drrr!!! has definitely an increasingly budding fanbase. Vol. number fixed! ^^;
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 371 comments
People, use the spoiler tag when you must refer to something in the novel. It’s there for a reason. -_-;
Picturing Izzy as savior is like making Jesus look like the Devil’s advocate on the issue of justice. o.O;
For me, it’s near impossible to picture him helping others just because he wants to them to realize they’ve been bad. He practically lives on the reactions of humans, and loves to feed on the negative ones even more. In any case, he doesn’t act without something to benefit him in that sense of his satisfaction.
I, however, certainly agree that not all these events that played out into his hand are all maneuvered by him and a lot of it is due mostly to the weaknesses in the important characters of this overall plot. Izaya just provides the right leverage to make things worse.
But even if he’s such a big influence on this upcoming war, like all good “war†stories, there’s not just one target mastermind. He may seem like the big bad on the sidelines now but when things start to really stir up and take on the domino effect, more antagonists are going to sprout up and with different intentions (and arsenal) at that. And it’s not like they’re going to sit idle knowing Izaya’s got the nice comfy perfect view of the whole battlefield so some crazy dude is going to attempt to do things his way if you get what I mean. This is all just vague speculation, of course, but the chances of another person dragging Izaya down a little is something I don’t think a lot of people would expect (but you have to remember that ‘Bukuro isn’t a closed off city, too, y’know). Basically, I think since Izaya is so focused on making head-bomb explode he let his guard down which makes the theory of him being an omnipotent final boss kinda “eh, not really†at this point in time.
Damn, that was long.That being said, on Mikado, he seems too concerned about the well-being of his friends and Dollars to really worry that Izaya is leading him in the direction he’s trying to avoid. Sure, he is the leader of the most influential gang in town and pretty badass when he has to be but he still has that very innocent personality. And since Izaya is the best, fastest source of information he can get, he practically set aside any cautions that he should have kept in order to try and maintain order among the gangs.
Anri, I can’t see as being a mediator this early in the game. Even with the knowledge that Mikado is the leader of Dollars, she’d still be hesitant on what to do because revealing that to Mikado and Masaomi might break up their friendship. You also have to add the fact that though she gets along very well with them and vice-versa, she doesn’t fully comprehend how deep their friendship is so someone (possibly Celty) might have to convince her that it’s alright to tell the truth. Whether they all confront each other and spill the secrets before it’s too late is another issue.
Finally, OMG, SIMON~!!! <333 Let it be known that Russian Sushi is awesome because everyone can take their hats off there.
And I still can’t believe we only have 5 more episodes left. Of course that automatically equals a second season guaranteed cuz…it’s just stupid not to have one, ne? ;D
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Xiao-chan, I was more on the sarcastic side when I said Izzy would come in prancing to save the day. I call him a smexy bastard for a reason, ne~ XD I think he’s a complete sadistic voyeur, who enjoys seeing others squirm under their skins in reaction to the information he lets slip. I don’t expect any goodness from him rather I would like to see him beat up by Shizu-chan! XD
I totally agree that there are other elements than Izaya who can take advantage of the whole discord spreading across ‘Bukro. Shingen, Shiki and even the oldies from Blue Squares have that destructive steak that is lacking in most of the Dollars members because they belong from every walk of life.
I would look forward to Mikado not relying on Izaya too much and Anri getting over her hesitation. I liked the fact how she’s bonding with Celty because they definitely have common factors going for them. These two joining forces would be very formidable indeed! Masaomi is just so past-driven that it’s not even funny. I would love to see the shackles taken away from him but again that’s dreaming for too much. :/
I wish Simon would play an active part in the ensuing war, he’s strong and resourceful, we need people like him! Looking forward to watching the Dotachin gangs shenanigans at Simon’s sushi.
Like KnT, I’m dying to get news of another season of Drrr!!! If so many shitty anime can get two, three seasons for fan service, please just let some good ones go on and get it over with for better conclusions! ^^;
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
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POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
I am prepared to suspend my disbelief to appreciate a great indicate
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
Your reviews are quite informed and valuable. Have you deemed producing professionally? Like a periodical or a thing?